History

The name Belgorod in Russian literally means "a white city", being a compound of "белый" (bely, "white, light") and "город" (gorod, "town, city"). The city was thus named after the region being rich in limestone. Etymologically, it corresponds to other Slavic city names of identical meaning: Belgrade, Belogradchik, Białogard, Biograd, Bilhorod, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi etc.

The settlement was first mentioned in 1237, when it was ravaged by the hordes of Batu Khan. It is unclear whether this Belgorod was located at the same place where the current city is. In 1596, it was re-founded by the order of Feodor Ioannovich as one of numerous forts set up to defend Southern borders from the Crimean Tatars.[11] In the 17th century it suffered repeatedly from Tatar incursions, against which there was built (from 1633 to 1740) an earthen wall, with twelve forts, extending upwards of 200 miles from the Vorskla to the Don, and called the Byelgorod line. In 1666, an archiepiscopal see was established in the town.[15]

Men's Monastery in 1911

After the Russian border was moved further south following the annexation of eastern Ukraine to Russia, the fortress fell in disrepair and the town was assigned to Kursk Governorate.

20th century

View of Belgorod in 1912

Soviet power was established in the city on October 26 (November 8), 1917. On April 10, 1918, Belgorod was occupied by German troops. After the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty the demarcation line passed to the north of the city and Belgorod was incorporated into the Ukrainian State headed by Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi.

On December 20, 1918, after the overthrow of Skoropadskiy the city was occupied by the Red Army and became part of the RSFSR. From December 24, 1918 to January 7, 1919, the temporary Workers' and Peasants' Government of Ukraine led by General Piatakov was housed in Belgorod. The city was the temporary capital of Ukraine. From June 23 to December 7, 1919, the town was part of the white South of Russia and took his volunteer army.

From September 1925 the territorial 163rd Infantry Regiment of the 55th Infantry Division of Kursk was stationed in Belgorod. In September 1939, it was deployed to the 185th Infantry Division.

On March 2, 1935, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee decided to allocate the city of Belgorod, Kursk region into an independent administrative unit directly subordinate to the Kursk Regional Executive Committee.

In 1954, the city became the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast. From this time the rapid development of the city as a regional center began. We can say that the city was rebuilt.

Belgorod is an administrative, industrial and cultural center of Belgorod Oblast, established in 1954. The major educational centers of the city are Belgorod State University, Technological University, Agricultural Academy, Financial Academy.

Belgorod Drama Theater is named after one of the famous 19th-century actors Mikhail Shchepkin who was born in this region.

On April 22, 2013, a mass shooting occurred at approximately 2:20 PM Moscow time on a street in Belgorod. The shooter, identified as 31-year-old Sergey (Sergei) Pomazun (Сергей Помазун), opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle on several people at a gun store and a sidewalk, killing all six people that were hit: three people at the store and three passersby, including two teenage girls. Pomazun was later apprehended after an extensive day-long manhunt; during his arrest, he wounded a policeman with a knife. He was later sentenced to life in prison on August 23, 2013.

Transportation

Trolleybus

Length of trolley lines is over 120 km (75 mi). Trolleybus city park consists of 150 pieces of equipment, mainly Russian-made trolley ZiU-682V, 2 units ZiU-683, operated since 1990, and 3 units ZiU-6205, 30 units "Optima", and also has one trolley Skoda-VSW -14Tr, which started operation in 1996. In 2002, the city administration purchased 15 new trolleybuses ZiU-682G, and in 2005 bought another 20 new trolleybuses ZiU-682G, and in 2011 - 30 trolleybuses Trolza-5275.05 "Optima", and in 2013 - 20 new trolleybuses ACSM-420.

Bus

The city has two bus stations: Bus Belgorod, Belgorod- 2 Bus Terminal (located on the forecourt ), as well as bus stop complex Energomash. The Energomash bus station is mainly for commuting buses. From the bus station Belgorod-2 buses go mainly to nearby regional centers, and departure of buses in accordance with the arrival of trains.